translation

noun trans·la·tion \ tran(t)s-ˈlā-shən , tranz- \

Updated on: 19 Apr 2018

1 : an act, process, or instance of translating: such as

a : a rendering from one language into another; also : the product of such a rendering

b : a change to a different substance, form, or appearance : conversion

c (1) : a transformation of coordinates in which the new axes are parallel to the old ones

(2) : uniform motion of a body in a straight line

2 : the process of forming a protein molecule at a ribosomal site of protein synthesis from information contained in messenger RNA — compare transcription 3

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translational

play \-shnəl, -shə-nᵊl\ adjective

See translation defined for English-language learners

See translation defined for kids

Examples of translation in a Sentence

She is working on a translation of the novel.
a new translation of the Iliad
There were English translations on the menu.
the translation of economic power into political strength

Recent Examples of translation from the Web

Put another way: The SYZ conjecture says a torus fibration is the key link between symplectic and complex spaces, but in many cases, mathematicians don’t know how to perform the translation procedure that the conjecture prescribes.

— kevin hartnett, WIRED, "Exploring the Mirror Link Between Two Geometric Worlds," 15 Apr. 2018
His continued relationship with the victim and his translation services helped lead to the successful prosecution of the perpetrators, Lowenthal said.

— nelson coffin, baltimoresun.com, "God's Squad: Baltimore County chaplains seek spiritual solace for cops and firefighters," 10 Apr. 2018
Nintendo is getting a bit more proactive about this problem now, noting in a new Japanese FAQ page (machine translation) that users should only use USB-C cables with a 56kΩ resistor with the Switch.

— kyle orland, Ars Technica, "Nintendo warns against using substandard Switch charging cables," 6 Apr. 2018
The other sacrifice that owners of a Qualcomm Snapdragon PC have to make is to tolerate that apps written for the Intel Core chips have to be emulated, or interpreted—a translation feature that slows down the app somewhat.

— mark hachman, PCWorld, "Microsoft plans to bring native 64-bit apps to Qualcomm-powered PCs, but it'll take time," 6 Apr. 2018
The system does have limits: For now, metro Phoenix dispatch centers don't offer translation services for texts sent in languages other than English.

— maria polletta, azcentral, "Text-to-911 launches in metro Phoenix: 'This will allow me to reach out for services'," 2 Apr. 2018
Though the canines are voiced by white American actors, the humans speak Japanese—while occasionally being spoken over by Frances McDormand’s character, who provides English translations throughout the movie.

— nina li coomes, The Atlantic, "Unpacking the Fictional Japan of Isle of Dogs," 31 Mar. 2018
Get our daily newsletter A broad range of tools is available to help mainstream companies build anything from search and recommendation engines to speech-recognition and translation systems, customer-service bots and more.

— The Economist, "AI providers will increasingly compete with management consultancies," 28 Mar. 2018
Cigarette smoking also is not declining as much among people who are less educated, biracial, poor, or are in other population segments, said Brian King, deputy director for research translation in the CDC's Office on Smoking and Health in Atlanta.

— julie washington, cleveland.com, "Smoking rates decline, but at slower pace for minorities and poor, CDC says," 8 Mar. 2018

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'translation.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

First Known Use of translation

14th century

in the meaning defined at sense 1

See Words from the same year

NEW! Time Traveler

translation Synonyms

Other Grammar and Linguistics Terms

ablaut, allusion, anacoluthon, diacritic, gerund, idiom, infinitive, metaphor, semiotics, simile

TRANSLATION Defined for English Language Learners

translation

noun

: words that have been changed from one language into a different language : words that have been translated
: the act or process of translating something into a different language
: the act or process of changing something from one form to another

TRANSLATION Defined for Kids

translation

noun trans·la·tion \ trans-ˈlā-shən \

: the act, process, or result of changing from one form or language into another

Medical Dictionary

translation

noun trans·la·tion \ tran(t)s-ˈlā-shən, tranz- \

: the process of forming a protein molecule at a ribosomal site of protein synthesis from information contained in messenger RNA — compare transcription

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